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100% Renewable Energy

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Burning oil, gas and coal has not only polluted our air, water and land for decades; now it’s changing our climate even faster than scientists predicted it would. We can have healthier communities and a livable future for kids growing up today, but to get there, we first need to transform the way we produce and consume energy.

That's why, alongside our national network, we’re calling on communities, colleges and universities, corporations and other businesses, and our state governments to commit to 100% renewable energy.

It’s a big, bold goal, one that would make America a world leader in the race toward a cleaner, healthier future — and it’s a goal that’s 100% possible.

State governments in California and Massachusetts have introduced bills that would require their states to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2045 and 2050, respectively.

The best part is, the more cities, colleges and companies that go renewable, the faster wind and solar prices keep falling throughout the country — making it even easier for more to achieve 100% renewable energy.

But we can do more, and we must do more to stave off the worst effects of climate change.

Credit: Deepwater Wind

We need to keep building momentum

Recent actions in Washington, D.C., have threatened to slow down and even reverse the progress we’ve made so far.

It’s time to stop letting some slow-moving politicians drag their feet.

It’s time to urge our communities, our colleges and universities, our corporations and businesses, and our state governments to step up and lead.

Join our call, and help your community go 100% renewable.

We need to build a movement. The more people who join our call for 100% renewable power, the more local, state and corporate leaders will step up and take action. And we need more campuses, more communities and more companies to commit to 100% renewable. It will make a difference now and get us on the right track for the future.

Credit: Adam Perri

Why wait?

Once, we were told that the pollution that came from burning oil, gas and coal was the price we had to pay for progress. Those days are over — especially since we know that burning fossil fuels is changing our climate and leaving our children with an uncertain future.

Scientists say we must stop burning virtually all fossil fuels by 2050 in order to spare kids growing up today from the devastating impacts of climate change.

And why should we wait?

Why wait for healthier communities with cleaner air and water when we can have them today?

Why wait until it’s impossible to leave the kids we know and love a safer, healthier tomorrow?

Why wait, when we can start changing the conversation about how we produce and consume energy — so it’s no longer a question of whether we’ll get to 100% renewable power, but how fast?

Why wait, when America has the responsibility, the ingenuity and the will to start leading the world to a 100% renewable future right now?

Credit: Steven Gilbert

We’ve got the power

We’re ready for this. Our national network has done a lot to promote solar, wind and energy efficiency on the state and local levels. We’ve won clean energy policies, from pro-solar initiatives to clean cars programs to renewable energy standards in 22 states, all of which are driving down the costs of wind and solar, and reducing carbon pollution.

With renewable energy, we can have healthier communities right now and a more liveable future for kids growing up today. Together, we can do this. A 100% renewable future based on 100% American-made energy is 100% possible. And it starts now.

Credit: Peter Kirkeskov Rasmussen via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Issue updates

Wind power continues to grow as a source of clean energy across America. The United States generated 26 times more electricity from wind power in 2014 than it did in 2001. American wind power has already significantly reduced global warming pollution.

American solar power has increased four-fold since 2010, but state by state, utilities and powerful fossil fuel industry front groups have begun chipping away at key policies that helped spur this solar boom.

The use of solar power is expanding rapidly across the United States. By the end of 2014, the United States had 20,500 megawatts (MW) of cumulative solar electric capacity, enough to power four million average U.S. homes. This success is the outcome of federal, state and local programs that are working in concert to make solar power accessible to more Americans, thereby cleaning our air, protecting our health, and hedging against volatile electricity prices.

American wind power already produced enough energy in 2013 to power 15 million homes. Continued, rapid development of wind energy would allow the renewable resource to supply 30 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030, providing more than enough carbon reductions to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan.